


A self indulgent projection of my own problems onto fictional characters

by Aveysauce



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Theatre, M/M, Trans Dave Strider, but like highschool theatre AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 12:03:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11313006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aveysauce/pseuds/Aveysauce
Summary: Dave and John become friends but neither knows what the other wants and what they can really give to each other while rose and kanaya have fun. Things are complicated always.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this isn't a mess I just needed a way to vent about my problems and haven't written anything in a while so.. ugh. I chose johndave for the characterization more than anything else... also I'm not sure if theyre gonna work out or not in the end but this is minorly angsty so. oh well.

Dave and John had known each other for an undefined period of time. Often, it seemed as if they always had been and always would be friends. That was simply not the case. There was once a time when the two had no idea of the other’s existence. Neither could pin it down exactly, but each had their own ideas of when they really met and became friends. John would say they just knew each other from school, names have to stick at some point, right? Dave could think of two separate experiences. One occurred in class, as he was listening to John talk about nothing in particular, and Dave realized how annoying this kid was. Acting like he knew about everything when he was really just as clueless as the rest of them, no matter how many Nic Cage facts he could parrot from Wikipedia. What a dick. The other was on an indie chat room called Pesterchum, that as he was 13 Dave found to be overtly cool to use. Now, entering his third year of high school, not so much. But this was when he and John had their first conversation, and they hit it off. John couldn’t talk his ear off over a computer screen, especially considering Pesterchum’s frustratingly slow response time. At some point they had come to realize who ridiculous screen names turntechgodhead and ectobiologist really belonged to, and had a good laugh over it. And so, they were friends. Somehow. But the most poignant event leading up to their friendship took place on a work day for theatre. They both were lame enough to take part in that shit, of course. Not that Dave would ever admit to being lame, it was just a class after all. He liked to say it was an easy credit. It wasn’t. Dave did sound, a topic interesting enough that it could take a backseat to his preferred photography class. The fact that their school was lacking a darkroom really helped him make that choice, though. At least that’s what he told John when they ended up working together. John and his love for terrible movies had taken to lights, although all of scenic design was interesting enough to him. It was more that he had never learned to use a drill and decided that, a year and a half in, it was too late to ask.   
On this particular work day, everything for sound was either completed or still up in the air, and John needed help. So Dave went up on a scissor lift to help John reposition lights, put in gels, all that jazz. Now, prior to this experience, Dave had never had any strong feeling toward heights. Living in an apartment where your brother makes you fight him on the roof will do that too you. This made for a surprise to both of them when, a mere 15 feet in the air, Dave looked down and his heart just dropped to his stomach like a disruptive bowel movement waiting for just the right moment to make a literal shitshow of your entire life. It was while Dave was thinking this that John, noticing his at this point acquaintance's change in manner, nudged him with a smile and said “hey, don’t worry. If you fall I’ll catch you. And if the whole thing falls, you’ll just fall into me since I’m heavier”. Dave smiled weakly, trying to decipher any hidden meaning behind this. He couldn’t for the life of him tell what was happening. Was this flirting? Was this just another of the confounding things John says with no real meaning? This remark also made Dave alarmingly aware of how slight he was compared to John, as if he wasn’t effeminate enough. Losing to his bro had already bruised his ego enough for the day, so he decided not to let it get to him. Instead, the fixation became centered around whether or not that was flirting.  
Keep in mind that the dimensions of a scissor lift tend to be about 29”x72”, with the length extension. Roughly 2.5x6 feet of space to work around. So John, at 6’2, ended up reaching over Dave’s 5’3 head. They didn’t think anything of it, as they were working. After everything, Dave started to stress out about it. Never mind when they went up on the catwalk and had their faces inches apart 98% of the time. John, to tell the truth, noticed. But he didn’t want to make it weird, so he refused to acknowledge anything.   
This workday was, truly, the start of it all.


	2. show week is always better than tech week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An uneasy friendship is settled into

The school John and Dave went to was fortunate enough to have a real auditorium. The booth situation was, nevertheless, a mess. The light and sound boards were crammed together in an area that could not comfortably fit the two operators, a stage manager, and a student director. This was made aware to John and Dave when Rose and Jade joined the booth for the first night of the show. Constantly bumping hands and faces and everything else became increasingly ridiculous for everyone involved, but especially Dave. He had long ago resigned himself to his life of bisexual endeavors, and yet. He couldn’t help but feel like he was coming to terms with it all over again with John. 

John really was clueless. He said, during the second run of the show, that “everyone’s a little bisexual”, to which Dave and Jade nodded their heads at as Rose rolled her eyes, casting a glance over the crowd to her girlfriend onstage. He then recovered quickly by saying “I’m definitely straight though”. Dave just looked at him, sunglasses making everything harder in the dim light of the both. 

That night, John and Dave got shakes while everyone else went out to Denny’s. Dave didn’t notice until they were alone. And they had a lovely drive in the evening, taking the long way back to Dave’s house. Dave just listened to John talk about whatever was on his mind, there was so much information leaving his mouth that sometimes Dave felt like he was talking to a walking encyclopedia. This feeling was enhanced when John acted like an asshole, uncaring in demeanor, simply because he was too obtuse to notice. When John was dropping Dave off, it felt like they were about to kiss. But they didn’t. And both of them went home feeling weird.

Dave wanted, needed, to tell someone about this mess. Not that much of anything was really happening, but it felt like it was and that’s what matters here. So he went to Rose and told her everything. And she laughed, telling him not to worry. She was like a sister to him, and the fact that everyone thought he was in love with her was repulsive. Not just because she was, in one way or another, related to him, but that felt beside the point. Rose suggested that Dave not worry about it, that it would blow over soon. He hoped she was right. 

The last night of the show, Dave felt weird. Him and John hadn’t really hung out before and he was worried they wouldn’t after. He found it strange he was worried about this at all. He was in the middle of thinking about this when John swiveled too quickly, falling into Dave’s lap. They laughed and Dave jokingly said “no homo”. John got quiet and responded in like. It was strange. They had been helping Jade sell tickets earlier, calling each other “darling” and “sweetheart” to ask for something urgently in front of a bunch of parents, with no grief. Everything was weird all the time, Dave felt.

The two were quite a pair as they were striking the set, running around with each other all night to deconstruct John’s design and tactfully avoid using drills or carrying heavy things. They left before the circle where everyone got all mushy to talk about feelings was fully formed. When they got to Dave’s house, John asked if they could “get breakfast tomorrow”. “Of course,” was the response, “I can’t believe you're asking me”. “Neither can I,” John replied. He had said no to breakfast two days in a row prior to this exchange.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”


End file.
